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HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS, 



ON TIIU 



SIEGE AND DEFENCE OF FORT STANWIX, 

IN 17 7^, 

BY HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT. 



#" HISTORICAL CONSIDERATIONS 



'^ 



THE SIEGE AND DEFENCE OF FORT STANWIX, 



IN 177*. 



? 



READ BEFORE THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETT, JUNE 19tH, 1845. 



BY HENRY E: SCHOOLCUAFT. 

V 



riTBLLSHED FROM THE SOCIETY'S PROCEEDIN&S. 



NEW YORK: 
PRESS OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 

1846. 



v^ 






WM. VAN NORDEJt, PRINTER, 39 WILI.IA.M ST. 



THE 



SIEGE OF FORT STANWIX. 



I»HAVE chosen for consideration, a passage in the eventful 
story of the war of the American revolution. Few^ sub- 
jects are fraught with more intrinsic interest to the history 
of man, and his progress in the scale of civilization, than 
this remarkable appeal to arms. Historians have, as yet, 
failed to render ample justice to the event. 

That a mere handful of people, not over three millions at 
utmost — scattered over a wide continent, without a gov- 
ernment — without funds — without arms — destitute, indeed, 
of all the means of sovereign action, but such as the occasion 
called forth — that such a people — so few in numbers, so 
dispersed and so destitute, should have prevailed against 
the most powerful nation of modern times, is still the most 
signal event in the history of human government. Its 
origin, its progress, and its issue, are alike important in their 
influence on the destiny of nations ; and viewed as they 
must be, in connection with the striking events of our colo- 
nization and expulsion, as it were, from the rest of the 



* In the patriotic feeling which marked the era, and in justice to an officer 
then in the acme of his favor, this fort was re-named Schuyler, but the name 
never obtained currency among the soldiery or the people, notwithstanding that 
the official letters of the American commander were thus dated. The first treaty 
with the Iroquois after the war, was formed here in 1784, and was called the 
treaty of" Fort Stanwix," and the spot was thus denominated by the inhabitants 
until its walls were levelled to make room for the extension of the village of 
Rome. The place itself was called " Rome" from the heroic defence of the 
republic made here. 



THE SIEGE OF 



human family, they afford instructive themes for our study. 
If there be not, in the contest itself, some strong tokens of 
the influence of that viewless hand, which often leads 
nations and men, " by a way they know not of,'' we have 
failed to draw from the shining heap of historic materials 
which the contest furnishes, one of its sublimest lessons. 

The year 1776 was the era of the appeal ; but it was 
not till the year after, that our fathers first truly felt the 
responsibilities, the perils and the gloom of that appeal. It 
was not till 1777 that " victory or death," glory or the 
gallows stared them fully in the face. If the entire annals 
of the war be searched, this will be found to be the darkest 
period of their gloom ; and this gloom \vas concentrated 
with its thickest darkness, on the territorial area of New 
York. It was here that the power of the enemy was drawn 
together for one grand eflbrt, and the infant republic was 
sought to be crushed. 

Washington had, indeed, within a few days of the close 
of '76, shed a brilliant beam of light on the waning cause, 
by turning on his heel, in the bitter month of December, 
and striking a blow at Trenton, which told the people that 
there was a redeeming spirit left. But he was not able 
long to keep the open field ; and the campaign of '77 opened 
with discouragements and an array of concentrated military 
power, on the part of the enem5% suited to appal the stout- 
est heart. It was emphatically the year of blood. Savage 
murders, instigated by infuriated bands of loyalists, charac- 
terized the whole interior line of the colonies, from Georgia 
to Maine ; while the fleets and ar . ies of England, with all 
the means of efficacious offence, held all the leading cities 
and harbors of the sea coast. 

It was in this year that the British Cabinet put into exe- 
cution by far its boldest and most politic scheme, in 
attempting to cut the colonies in two, by means of a military 
cordon from Canada to the Atlantic, across the area of 
New York. It was here, within our own borders, that the 
infant Hercules was sought to be strangled, and the contest 
of the revolution terminated. To compass this end, Bur- 



FORT STANWIX. 



goyne, with his full plumed army, approached from the 
North. Sir Henry Clinton, with a veteran force, ascended 
the Hudson, and sword in hand, carried the strongest passes 
of the Highlands ; while St. Leger, on the west, threatened 
still more sanguinary results, with five of the infuriated 
tribes of the Iroquois at his heels. 

In contemplating the perilous scenes that marked this 
year, there is no event, which, in all its aspects, both of 
progress and result, partakes more iully of the character of 
the HEROIC, than the siege of P'ort Stanvrix. It is proposed 
to devote the short time I am to occupy, to this particular 
subject. Striking as it is in itself, well worthy of historic 
record, and full of romantic and chivalrous adventure, in 
some of its episodes, the story of its defence is one, how- 
ever, which I should have hardly ventured to select, had I 
not something to add to the well known events from the 
voice of living and unrecorded tradition. This tradition is 
given, for the most part, from the lips of one of the veritable 
actors in its perilous scenes — a brave man and a patriot — 
whose name has been but recently added to the long list of 
departed octogenarian revolutionary soldiers.* 

Fort Stanwix occupied the southern verge of an elevated 
plain, dividing the .Mohawk river from Wood creek, which 
is now the site of the sylvan and beautiful village of Rome, 
in Oneida count)^ During all the period of our colonial 
history, and for uncounted centuries before, it was the 
thoroughfare and place of transit for the native tribes, be- 
tween the great lakes of the west, and the Atlantic waters. 
And if the portage itself has now dropped into insignificance, 
it is because a wise legislation, availing itself of the hint 
of nature, has formed a better means of communication 
through the Erie Canal. 

In conducting the operations of the war, which resulted 
in the conquest of Canada, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, in 1758, 



* Col. Lawrence Schoolcraft, who is here alluded to, died at Vernon, Oneida 
county, June 7th, 1840, aged 84. Vide obituary notices in the Globe and Intelli.- 
gencer of that month. 

1* 



6 THE SIEGE OF 

ordered a fortress to be erected on this summit. The work 
was entrusted to Col. Stanwix, a brave and energetic 
officer, who is favorably noticed in the annals of the times,* 
and was named after himself. It consisted originally, of a 
square enclosure, but was afterwards enlarged, and provi- 
ded with four bastions. After the conquest of Canada by 
the British crown, its importance became secondary, and 
at the period of the breaking out of the American revolu- 
tion, the works had fallen into dilapidation. 

The year 1777 found Gen. Schuyler in the command of 
the northern department, wdio, while he kept Burgoyne at 
bay with one hand, lifted the other to shield the western 
frontier. In the month of April of this year, anticipating 
the movement from Oswego, he placed fort Stanwix under 
the command of Col. Peter Gansevoort, with the 3rd regi- 
ment of New York State troops; a detachment of the 
Massachusetts line, and a single company of artillery. His 
whole force numbered but seven hundred and fifty men. 
He had, as his second in command, Lt. Col. Marinus Willett, 
an officer of indomitable courage and resources, well versed 
in the mode of native warfare, and a well filled muster roll 
of subordinates, each of whom vied with the other in acts of 
devotion to the cause. Officers and soldiers alike felt that 
the eyes of their country were upon them. They were led to 
view their duties, not as an ordinary service, but as a 
sacred trust, in the performance of which any act of indi- 
vidual neglect might peril the safety of the fort, and the 
cause which they were banded together to serve. Thus 
feeling and acting, the commander had a weight of moral 
energy in his favor, which doubles the authority of com- 
mand. Such are the effects of liberty upon the human 
heart. 

The first duty was to repair the fort, which was found 
in a wretched state, and to strengthen the works, and in 
this labor they exhibited the greatest energy and diligence, 



» Mante's History of the late war in America, &c. (State Library, Albany.) 



FORT STANWIX. 



during the months of May, June and July. It was during 
this labor, that the well known incident occurred, so inter- 
esting to the youthful reader, of an American officer, shot 
and scalped in the forest, whose life was saved by the sa- 
gacity and fidelity of his dog. The officer was Capt. Greig, 
who, in the command of a sodding party, had ventured, 
with his dog and gun, a little too far from the fort, and out 
of the reach of the guns. At this work of repairs, the gar- 
rison labored, indeed, up to the day of the investment. 

Separated from the point of military support by a wide 
interval, and shut in from all communication w^th it, by 
bands of hostile savages, they had not the means of supply- 
ing themselves with many of the necessaries of a siege. In 
the haste of their march, or the scantiness of the mifitary 
chest, they found themselves short of even a flag, to hoist 
on the staff. The deficiency was supplied by cutting up 
an officer's camblet cloak. And when it had been duly 
pieced out and finished, it was sent up to its airy height 
with a shout of fealty to the cause, and amid the sounds of 
artillery. It is from circumstances as small as this, that 
we may denote the temper and exigencies of the times, and 
recall the high devotion and patriotic resources with which 
the contest was waged. 

The enemy appeared on the 2d of August, in an advan- 
ced party, led by Lt. Bird, with a large escort of Mohawks. 
On the 3d, Col. Barry St. Leger, who commanded the ex- 
pedition, debarked his troops and artillery in full force, on 
the banks of Wood creek, and immediately took up his line 
of march, across the Deowainsta — this was the Indian 
name of the portage — and invested the fort. The dis- 
ance was short of» two miles. He had under his com- 
mand, on this occasion, an effective regiment of foot ; the 
Royal Greens ; Johnson's Rangers ; a corps of loyalists 
originally from the Mohawks' valley, led by Cols. Butler 
and Claus, and the effective warriors of five cantons of the 
Iroquois, namely, the Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Onon- 
dagas and Mohawks, the latter under the immediate orders 
of Joseph Brant, less generally known under an Indian name 



8 THE SIEGE OF 

of Thyendanegea. This entire auxiliary force, including 
the loyalists, constituted the command of Sir John Johnson. 

St. Lcger's whole force is stated at seventeen hundred 
men, which he had concentrated from Montreal and Niagara, 
at Oswego in the month of July. He had twelve pieces of 
artillery, including four howitzers and two mortars, with 
ample stores and munitions of every kind. No part of 
his force, however, exceeded, in violence and bitter rancor, 
the embodied tories and loyalists, who had fled to Canada 
from the valley of the Mohawk and the sources of the Sus- 
quehanna. 

St. Leger's movements had been narrowly watched, from 
the time he left Oswego, by the friendly Oneidas, among 
whom a chief, called by courtesy Col. Louis, was conspicu- 
ous. This chief carefully reported his progress up the Os- 
wego and Onondaga rivers, from day to day ; brought ac- 
counts of the number and description of troops, and the 
probable time of the investment. To secure the full co- 
operation of the soldiery, and keep them in heart, this infor- 
mation was communicated to them at their respective head 
quarters. Tradition adds, that it turned out to be so min- 
utely correct, that the investment took place on the very 
day indicated by the faithful sachem. " To-morrow," said he 
to the commander, " they will be here," and on the morrow 
the enemy came.* 

The 3d of August was a day of deep scenic interest, and 
revealed a military pageant, which made a striking impres- 
sion. It was a calm and beautiful morning when the ene- 
my took up their line of march from Wood Creek. The 
intervening ground was an open plain of wide extent, most 
elevated towards its central and southern edge. Ganse- 
voort's men were paraded on the ramparts looking in the 
direction where the Oneida sachem had told them the ene- 
my w^ould appear. Music soon was heard. The scarlet 
color of their uniforms next showed itself. They had taken 
their standards from their cases that morning, and as color 

«L. S. 



FORT STANWIX. 9 

after color came into view, and they unfurled them to the 
breeze, an intense degree of interest was felt, but scarcely 
a word uttered. To many of the men who had newly en- 
listed, the scene was novel. Some of them had served the 
year before under Montgomery ; others in the movements 
at Ticonderoga and Crown Point under St. Clair. Some 
veterans dated their service in prior wars, under Sir Wil- 
liam Johnson, Prideaux and Bradstreet. There were others 
who were mere lads of seventeen. The Indians, spreading 
out on the flanks, gave the scene an air of Asiatic gorgeous- 
ness,- mixed with terror. For their loud yells were heard 
above the British drum and bugle. The whole display, the 
exactitude of the order of march, the glitter of banners, the 
numbers present, and the impending danger of the contest, 
were designed for effect upon the American garrison. Not 
a gun was, however fired. The panorama was gazed at 
in silence.* 

But if St. Leger designed to strike terror into the hearts 
of his opponents by an ostentatious display of his force, and 
expected an easy victory and an immediate surrender, as 
one of his orders, since published, prove, he was greatly 
deceived. The Americans, while they admired his discipline, 
were counting his men. The only effect which is known to 
ha,ve been produced upon the garrison, was a better appre- 
ciation of the nature of the contest they had before them, 
and a firmer determination to meet its utmost exigencies. 
In this, officers and men were one. They saw in these In- 
dian hordes, equipped with wild feathers and glistening 
axes, a powerful and merciless enemy, with whom it might 
be their fate to grapple in open field, and they were driven, 
by this reflection, into still closer bonds of unity. They had 
before resolved as a body, and they now resolved, man by 
mant to defend the works at all hazards, and to " do or die " 
in their defence. This is the language of the commander, 
in an official letter. 

The garrison had, at this moment, six weeks provisions, 



*L. S. 



10 THE SIEGE OP 

with a good supply of fixed ammunition, but was so short 
of ball and ordnance stores as to limit itself to nine rounds 
per day, during the seige. The very balls which the enemy 
fired, were in truth picked up in the intervals and fired 
back.* 

St. Leger marched up, in plain view of the troops, and 
took up his line of encampment on elevated grounds, on the 
banks of the Mohawk, east of the fort. He erected his gun 
batteries, with corresponding redouts to cover them, within 
six hundred yards of t^jat angle of the fort. Twelve guns, 
of all calibre, were here quickly brought into position,- and 
the fire opened next morning. It was soon found, however, 
that his field guns were too light to penetrate the works. 
His howitzers and bombs were therefore his most effective 
means of offence. And these, the garrison, during a long 
seige, became very expert in watching, announcing them 
shot by shot, and avoiding their effects by immediate pros- 
tration on the ramparts or the ground. Sentinels were 
stationed to watch every match applied, and to cry out 
" shot " or " shell !"* 

Sir John Johnson, with the loyalists and refugees from 
the Mohawk valley, fixed his encampment on the south, or 
front of the fort, at such a distance as placed him without 
the reach of cannon shot. He had the Mohawk river im- 
mediately on his right, and the forest, with Brant's forces 
on his left. This made his position a strong one, should it 
be assailed. Parties of Indians encamped in various posi- 
tions, completed the circle of investment and limited the 
garrison night and day, to the exact area enclosed by its 
walls. 

The INIohawks were on the south-west. A point of woods 
extended from the Mohawk camp, so near to the S. W. 
bastion of the fort, that a rifle ball could traverse the inter- 
val. On the first day of the seige, it was observed that 
several shots had been fatally fired from the thick top of a 
pine tree, standing in the angle. A gun charged with 



•L. S. 



FORT STANWIX. 11 

grape was brought with instant dexterity to bear on this 
tree. The result was, that as soon as it was fired, a stal- 
wart Indian tumbled to the ground, together with a quan- 
tity of the cut branches.* This little incident put the sol- 
diers in high glee, and gave a good omen of success, f 

The siege had continued three days, with the daily and 
always fearful alarm cry of " shot " or " shell !" sung out 
by the sentinels, when Adam Helmer, a native of the Mo- 
hawk valley, reached the fort at an early hour in the day, 
with two men, bringing intelligence that General Herkimer 
was on his march for its relief, with the whole efiective 
militia force of the Mohawk valley and the sources of the 
Susquehanna. This vigilant scout, who had eluded the In- 
dians, brought word that Herkimer had reached the neigh- 
borhood of the Oriskany, and had given him orders to re- 
quest the commander to apprize him of his safe entrance 
^ into the fort, by three heavy discharges of artillery, rapidly 
fired. The signal was immediately given. Gansevoort 
determined at the same moment, to make a diversion in 
Herkimer's favor. The troops were paraded in a square, 
and the intelligence communicated. Col. Willett then 
went down into the esplanade and addressed the men to 
this effect : — Soldiers, you have heard that Gen. Herkimer 
is on his march to our relief. The commanding officer feels 
satisfied that the tories and queen's rangers have stolen off 
in the night with Brant and his Mohawks, to meet him. 
The camp of Sir John is therefore weakened. As many of 
you as feel willing to follow me, in an attack upon it, and 
are not afraid to die for liberty, will shoulder your arms, 
and step out one pace in front. J Two hundred men obeyed 
the impulse almost at the same moment ; fifty more, with 
a three pounder, were soon after added. 

A rain storm which now came up suddenly, hindered 



* I was informed by an aged Oneida, last summer, that loaded guns were 
drawn up by a cord from the foot of the tree, and returned after firing for the 
purpose of being reloaded. See Notes on the Iroquois. Alb., 1846. 

tL. S. JL. S. 



12 THE SIEGE OP 

their immediate march, but as soon as it ceased, they issued 
from the sally-port at a brisk pace, and rushing down upon 
the camp of Sir John, carried it at the point of the bayonet, 
drove the enemy through the Mohawk, and captured his 
camp, baggage and public stores. Part of the enemy were 
at the moment below the banks of the river, and had stack- 
ed their arms. Sir John was reposing in his tent as the 
weather was Avarm, with his coat off, and fled in this plight 
with his men, through the river.* The surprize was com- 
plete. All his papers, correspondence and baggage were 
taken. Among the captured articles were three standards 
— the first taken after the surprise at Trenton. It is among 
the traditions which I employ in these sketches, that the 
teams of the fort went out, and returned seven times, laden 
with the plunder of his camp. There were three teams in 
the quartermaster's service, making twenty-one loads of 
camp stores and munitions.* 

Having rifled the camp, Willett next turned his arms 
against the Mohawks. Their camp was also found weak- 
ened by the warriors withdrawn to Oriskany, and was like- 
wise taken and plundered. The. few Iroquois who escaped 
it, made no effective resistance," but fled and dispersed them- 
selves in the woods. Their lines were charged at a quick 
step, and their wigwams riddled with balls. 

In the meantime, St. Leger, who occupied the elevated 
grounds east of the fort, marshalled a force with two brass 
field pieces, to cut otf Willett's return. This force was for 
a while kept in obeyance, by the guns of the American 
commander. When it reached an effective position, its 
guns delivered their fire, high above the heads of their as- 
sailants. Not a shot took effect. Willett returned it 
briskly with a well aimed fire, directly in front, and reach- 
ed and entered the fort, without the loss of a single man* 
The spirit, alacrity and success with which this sally was 
conducted, and its effects upon the enemy, render it one of 
the most brilliant achievements of the siege. Indian run- 



•L. S. 



FORT STANWIX. 13 

ners were immediately dispatched by Sir John, to bear the 
news of this assault to Oriskany. 

We must now withdraw attention to a scene, which was 
being enacted at the same moment as at this storied spot, at 
the distance of about eight miles. It has been mentioned, 
that an express from Gen. Herkimer reached Gansevoort, 
in the early part of the day, apprising him of his approach. 
Gen. Herkimer, on reaching the vicinity of the site of Utica, 
on the 5th of August, had wished to strengthen himself with 
reinforcements which had not yet joined him ; but in con- 
sequence of the conduct of some of his officers, who taunted 
him with cowardice, and as the event proved, had more 
zeal than courage, he mounted his horse, and gave the or- 
der " march on," and rapidly pushed forward, on the 6th of 
August. It was now but the third day since the fort had 
been regularly invested. Herkdmer did not, as some ac- 
counts state, march without guards in front and on his 
flanks, but owing to the high words and insulting language 
of the morning, he pressed rapidly on their heels. He rode 
a noble horse, and himself led the way. By ten o'clock he 
had reached and descended into the low grounds of the val- 
ley of the Oriskany. A large part of his army had already 
entered the defile, when his guards, both front and flank, 
were suddenly shot down, a general discharge was poured 
in from higher grounds, and the wild shouts of the Indians 
told him he was in the midst of an ambuscade. The ef- 
fects of this sudden attack, accompanied as it was by the 
high Sa-sa-kwon of the Indians, were appaling and sanguin- 
ary. It was impossible, in so close a defile, matted with 
woods, to form his men, who fell thickly around him. A 
part of his force v/hich had not yet descended into the val- 
ley, and which embraced some of his rash counsellors and 
defamers of the morning, fled without firing a gun. He 
had but two regiments of militia, without a single field 
piece, on reaching this dreary spot ; and he was thus left to 
battle the enemy at fearful odds, with a reduced force, 
which it was impossible to concentrate. Disorder reigned, 



14 THE SIEGE OF 

but it was the disorder of brave men, who loved their gen- 
eral and who soon began to recover. 

He had opposed to him in this engagement, a detachment 
of Sir John Johnson's regiment of greens, and Butler's ran- 
gers, with a strong body of the Indians, led by Joseph Brant, 
in person. They had seized a favorite position, which in- 
fested the pass. Whichever way he turned, he found 
himself in the midst of his enemies. The fight was hot 
and murderous ; but, aside from the temporary panic, it 
was not a fight, on his part, with militia unaccustomed to 
Indian warfare, and bidian barbarity. The people of the 
Mohawk had fought in other wars. Few men in America 
were better skilled in this species of warfare than they. 
But they were opposed in the two corps of tories and ran- 
gers, b}^ persons of the same experienced stamp. It was a 
fight of neighbor with neighbor. Many, who had espoused 
the royal cause, and fled to Canada, now returned to battle 
for the country, with a degree of ire and fury, which even 
that of the Mohawks did not exceed. Hemmed in by woods, 
it was, to a great extent, a combat between individuals, 
and the contest gave rise to many exhibitions of high, dar- 
ing and indomitable prowess, which were probably never 
equalled in America. Herkimer himself, although surpri- 
sed, conducted with the utmost bravery and coolness. His 
horse was shot down early in the contest, and he was thus 
brought to the ground, with his leg shattered below the 
knee. Binding it up hastily, he directed his saddle to be 
taken from the expiring animal, and placed on a hillock, 
which permitted him to sit at ease, in a position which al- 
lowed him to extend^his limbs and gave him a view of the 
field. He then drew his tinder box Irom his pocket, and 
lighting his pipe deliberately smoked it while the battle 
raged around.* 

In the early part of this action, the advantage was with 
the assailants, but, in its progress, it partook, more closely, 
of an equal contest. Herkimer's men began to fight in 

* Campbell's Annals of Tryon County. 



FORT STANWIX. 15 

CIRCLES, an order of battle by which they not only protected 
their ranks, but poured outwardly, a destructive fire. Other 
portions of the command, adopted the Indian mode of 
fighting from behind trees, but fighting in couples, The 
advantage of this fighting in couples was this : it had been 
observed that as soon as a single shot, came from behind a 
tree an Indian rushed up, before the assailant could re-load, 
and tomahawked him. By fighting in couples, there was 
always one shot, in return, so that they were prepared for 
this movement, and paid the savage for his termerity. 
Not only was this species of order restored, but a turning 
point in the battle was produced, by a providential and 
most severe and instantaneous rain storm, which parted 
the combatants, and gave time for reflection and manoeu- 
vring. It was this storm which had delayed the sortie, of 
Willett. 

Col. Butler determined to avail himself of this interim, 
to throw the American Commander off his guard, by feign- 
ing the arrival of an expected relief from the Fort. He 
knew the Americans expected a reinforcement. Disguising 
a detachment of the Greens, by a plain American hat, they 
approached from the direction of the garrison. But the 
trick was detected, as soon as they came within hailing 
distance, and the contest resumed with even greater obsti- 
nacy than before. It now, however, took more character 
istically, the aspect of a contest between, whig and tory 
refugee and settler, loyalist and revolutionist. The Indians, 
who, it is now known, had suffered severely, were made to 
keep at a more respectful distance. They had lost, too, 
their favorite position of attack. 

Herkimer, on the other hand, had made use of the ces- 
sation of firing, by removing to a piece of high level ground, 
where he had formed his entire command in a circle,* and 
where, as the shower broke away, he stood firmly, await- 
ing the expected attack. One or two incidents, in the 
second part of the battle, may serve to show the determined 
and heroic courage, with which it was fought. 

* Stone's Brant, vol. 1. p. 237. 



16 THE SIEGE OF 

As the Greens, disguised as Americans, came up, 
they were hailed by Captain Gardenier, who recognized 
them by the colour of their coats. At the same moment, 
one of his men recognized a friend in the enemies' ranks, 
put out his hand, which the other suddenly seizing, jerked 
him into the ranks, with the words, " you are my prisoner." 
A struggle ensued, during which, Gardenier, watching his 
opportunity, sprang forward, levelled the captor with his 
spear aud rescued his man. A rush was immediately made 
upon him by two men, of whom he slew one, and wounded 
the other. Three of the Greens now set upon him. In 
the struggle one of his spurs, became entangled in their 
cloths, and he fell. Both his thighs were now transpierced 
with bayonets. A third bayonet was aimed at his breast. 
Seizing it, with great energy, he wrenched it away and 
brought the man down upon his breast, and thus made a 
shield of him, till one of his own men named Adam Miller, 
came to his rescue. Miller was now assailed, when Gar- 
denier rose to his seat, and although his hand had been 
woefully lacerated by having the bayonet drawn through 
it, he grasped his spear, which had fallen to the ground, 
and thrust the barb into the side of the assailant. He fell 
and expired. It proved to be Lieut. Mc Donald of the loy- 
alists of Tryon county. In the midst of this struggle, some 
of Gardenier's own men, deceived by the Greens, called 
out to him, to desist, that he was killing his friends. He 
replied, " they are not friends, but enemies — fire away." A 
heavy volley ensued, in which thirty of the Greens and as 
many of the Indians fell. 

It happened, at another point of the circle, that three 
of the Royal Greens, rushed through the ranks, to make 
prisoner of a Captain Dillenback — a bold and resolute 
officer, who was known to have declared that he would nev- 
er be taken alive. One of these assailants seized his gun, but 
he wrenched it back, and felled him with it. The second 
he shot dead, and having now an empty gun, he thrust the 
third through the body with his bayonet. The result, how- 
ever, unfortunately for this brave patriot, verified his de- 



FORT STANWIX. 17 

claration, for in the moment of his triumph, a shot from 
another hand laid him low. 

So fierce a contest could not be long kept up. Besides, 
the firing was continued in the direction of the fort, and 
the enemy judged rightly, that their camp had been at- 
tacked and their presence might become necessary.* And 
thus the express of Herkimer and the sortie of the garrison, 
became directly instrumental in the successful issue of this 
battle. The moment the Indians partook of this fear, 
coupled as it was, with their own actual loss, they raised 
the retreating cry of " Oonah ! Oonah ! " and fled in every 
direction. The Greens and Rangers followed them, amid 
the huzzas and shots of the Americans, leaving the latter, 
masters of the field.* 

Thus terminated the battle of Oriskany, one of the most 
bloody, and hard fought contests of the Revolutionary war. 
Every fourth man out of the ranks of Herkimer, it is said, 
was killed either in battle or burned at the stake,! and its 
results carried mourning into almost every family, over a 
wide frontier. The exact number killed, is not certainly 
known. The American accounts admit two hundred killed 
on the field, besides prisoners and missing. The British 
reported double that number. Of their own loss, no exact 
accounts were published. A prudent historian^ makes it 
fully equal, if not superior, to our own. Of the Senecas 
alone, thirty six were killed, and the return of this tribe is 
said by Mary Jamison to have produced the loudest wail- 
ing in the villages. § Nor did the Mohawks escape without 
severe loss, along with their western associates. And there 
is no word in the Indian reminiscences of their wars, which 
is more emphatically recollected, than that of Oriskany.|| 

As soon as the enemy fled, and the sounds of the war- 



* Stone's Brant, vol. 1. p, 240, also Campbell's Tryon County. 

t Campbell's Tryon County. t Stone. §Narr. of Mary Jemison. 

II The Senecas of Allegany told me in July last, that they had lost thirty chiefs 
in the battle of Oriskany. They denied that they had burned eight officers at the 
stake, but said that these officers had been killed in running the gauntlet. See 
" Notes on the Iroquois," Albany, 1846, being " Senate Document twenty-four." 

2* 



18 



THE SIEGE OF 



whoop died away, Herkimer's men prepared litters to carry 
off their wounded — between forty and fifty of which were 
constructed. The wounded General himself was thus 
carried by his affectionate soldiery, to his own house, below 
the Little Falls, with his leg badly shattered and ban- 
daged. Ten days after the battle, amputation became 
necessary. The operation was unskilfully performed 
by a French surgeon in Arnold's detachment, who could 
not succeed in effectually staunching the blood, and 
he thus fell a victim to professional ignorance. But he 
preserved, on his dying bed, the same calmness and compo- 
sure which had marked his conduct on the field. As he 
saw that his dissolution must shortly ensue, from the con- 
tinued bleeding and the bad state of his wound, he called 
for his family bible, and having gathered his domestic circle 
around him, he read aloud, in a clear voice, the thirty-ninth 
psalm — "O Lord rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither 
chasten me in thy hot displeasure ; for thine arrows stick 
fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore." The entire 
psalm is one of singular appropriateness ; and, the ac- 
quaintance with the sacred volume which its selection 
evinces, proves that if, in the field, he was an undaunted 
soldier, he was not less on the threshold of another world, 
a trustful Christian. Other Generals have fallen in the arms 
of victory, but Nicholas Herkimer may be said to have 
fallen in the arms of his Maker. Congress passed a reso- 
lution, and appropriated money to erect a monument to his 
memory — an act of justice yet unperformed : but his name 
has long been inscribed in the hearts of his countrymen as 
one of the noble patriots to whom we owe our national 
independence. 

The death of Herkimer took place on the sixteenth day 
of the siege — to the events of which we now return. The 
fort was still hotly pressed, and surrounded with an infuria- 
ted host of Indian warriors, who were now irritated by their 
losses in the battle. The brave Herkimer had been killed ; 
but Gansevoort still remained, and the flag of the fortress 
entrusted to his command, still waved undauntedly over 



FORT STANWIX. 19 

the sources of the Mohawk. Every evening and morning 
that flag was lowered and raised to the sounds of music 
and artillery, and thus renewed to the besiegers the offence 
excited by this new type of a new sovereign power. So 
the besieged and besiegers, felt that it was a struggle 
between king and people. This constituted the acme of 
the contest, which was conducted with a degree of bitter- 
ness and hatred, the strength of which it is now difficult to 
realize. The effect of the battle on the besieging army, in 
connection with the sortie, it is now known, had told well 
upon the American cause. That cause, however, still felt 
the hand of gloom, and needed all the patriotic firmness and 
military skill which it found, both in the commander and in 
the garrison. 

Gansevoort was a man eminently fitted for the command 
entrusted to him, and like the heroic General Chasse, whom, 
in his resolute defence of Antwerp, he much resembled, he 
was calm under threats and summons of surrender, and 
maintained his equanimity amidst the explosion of shells, 
which, on one occasion, carried desolation to his hospital.* 
Of the particular results of the battle of Oriskany, fought 
for his relief, he then knew nothing but from rumor, which 
gave the most disastrous and exaggerated accounts. He 
saw himself in charge of a fortress, far removed from the 
point of succor, with the intervening forests filled with a 
wakeful and ruthless enemy. This enemy guarded every 
pass with the watchfulness of a panther for his prey. 
There were, in fact, no adequate roads and bridges to favor 
the approach of disciplined troops, and no open fields upon 
which they could manoeuvre. Bonaparte himself, in such 
a predicament as Herkimer occupied, would have been put 
to the study of a species of tactics, of which he never 
dreamt. And it is no cause of wonder, that a yeoman 
soldiery, like those at Oriskany, should have been suddenly 
attacked and cut down by a masked foe. Wonderful was it 
indeed, that they were not annihilated. 



*L. S. 



20 THE SIEGE OF 

Stanwix was, indeed, at this period, like an oasis on the 
desert, to which a few brave men. had retired. No Arab 
could be more keen for his prey than the Mohawks who 
surrounded it. Week after week there was nothing heard 
in that lone fortress, but the yell of the savage without, and 
the bursting bomb within. But these were sounds which 
had no quailing effect upon the American commander. 
Schooled in the patriotic circle which had a Schuyler, a 
Clinton, a Hamilton, aye, and a Washington for its proto- 
types and counsellors, he deemed his life a cheap tribute, if 
it could be given for the benefit of his country. Upon that 
high altar he had pledged his faith, nor is there the slightest 
evidence, in history or tradition, public or private, to shew 
that he ever for a moment faltered in this obligation, or 
swerved from the high principles of the contest. He knew 
that the eyes of America were upon him and his command, 
and felt that the results of the siege were, and would be, in- 
vested with a degree of importance far above that which 
would ordinarily attach to the numerical force actually 
employed. He had determined to maintain the post to the 
last extremity, and then, abandoning it at night, to cut his 
way through the enemy. This he expressed.* 

The actual state of his provisions and military stores were 
such as by no means to render him free from apprehension, 
and these were sought to be deepened by popular reports, 
and by the artifices of the enemy. On the very night after 
the battle of Oriskany, St. Leger induced Col. Bellinger and 
Major Fry,* who were prisoners in his camp, to \ATite a 
strong letter to Col. Gansevoort, exaggerating the losses of 
the day, and urging him to surrendt^r. This was sent in by 
an officer, who made a verbal demand of surrender. Gan- 
sevoort answered, in these words : " Tell your commander 
that I can give no reply to a verbal summons, unless he 
makes it in person, except from the mouths of my cannon.'' f 

The next day a flag of truce, borne by Col. Butler and 
two associates, approached the fort, with another message 

* A brother-in-law of Gen. Herkimer, t Gansevoort papers. Alb. 



FORT STANWIX. 21 

for the American commander. Admission was granted. 
The three officers were blindfolded, and conducted to Gan- 
sevoort's quarters, where his field officers were assembled. 
To prevent observation on the state of the works, the 
window shutters had been closed, and candles lighted. 
Wine and some refreshments were spread on the table. 
Having partaken of these civilities. Major Ancrom, on the 
part of the truce, arose and addressed the commanding 
officers in a speech which embraced features of the usual 
gasconade and professed clemency of the British command- 
ers of the era. 

" J am directed," he said, " by Col. St. Leger, to inform the 
commandant of this fort that he has, with much difficulty, 
prevailed on the Indians to agree, that if the garrison, 
without farther resistance, shall be delivered up, with the 
public stores belonging to it, the officers and soldiers shall 
have all their baggage and private property secured to 
them. And in order that the garrison may have a sufficient 
pledge. Col. Butler accompanies me to assure them that not 
a hair of their heads shall be hurt. [Here an appeal was 
made to Col. B., and an assurance given by him.] 

"I am likewise directed," he continued, "to remind the 
commandant that the defeat of General Herkimer must 
deprive the garrison of all hopes of relief, especially as 
Gen. Burgoyne is now in Albany, so that, sooner or later, 
the fort must fall into our hands. Col. St. Leger, from an 
earnest desire to prevent further bloodshed, hopes these 
terms will not be refused, as in this case it will be out of 
his power to make them again. It was with great difficulty 
that the Indians consented to the present arrangement, as 
it will deprive them of the plunder, which they always 
calculate upon on similar occasions."* He continued a 
studied address, in this strain. He said, that if these terms 
were rejected, the Indians, who were very numerous, and 
much exasperated and mortified from their losses in the 
late actions, could not be restrained from plundering the 

* Stone's Brant. 



22 THE SIEGE OF 

property, and probably destroying the lives of the greater 
part of the garrison. Such, indeed, he said, was the ire on 
the loss of several of their favorite chiefs, who had been 
killed, that unless the surrender were agreed to, they threat- 
ened to march down the country, destroying the settlements, 
and not sparing even women and children. 

The American officers sat uneasy while this singular 
oration was in the course of delivery. Col. Willett imme- 
diately replied in a spirited and energetic manner. " Do I 
understand you. Sir," said he, " that you come from the 
British commander, who invests this fort ? By your uniform 
you appear yourself to be in the British service, yet if I 
comprehend your address, its purport is to tell the com- 
mander of this garrison that if he does not surrender it into 
the hands of the British commandant, this officer will send 
his Indians to murder our women and children. Please 
reflect. Sir, that their blood will be on your head, not ours. 
We are doing our duty. This garrison is committed to our 
charge, and we will take care of it. After you get out of 
it, you may turn round and survey its walls, but never, Sir, 
expect to come within them again, unless you come a 
prisoner. 

" I consider the message you have brought, degrading for 
a civilized enemy to send, and by no means reputable for a 
British officer to carry. For my own part, I declare that 
before I would consent to deliver this garrison to such a 
murderous force as, by your own account, your army con- 
sists of, I would suffer my body to be filled with splinters, 
and set on fire at every pore."* 

This was a language that spoke the spirit of the times, 
and should have been sufficient to teach the enemy the 
temper of the garrison they had to deal with. But such 
was not its effect. The verbal message above recited, was 
committed to writing, and communicated to Col. Gansevoort 
in the form of a letter, within a day or two. In this letter, 
St. Leger disclaims any intention of disrespect by his verbal 

* Col. Willett's Narrative. 



FORT STANWIX. 23 

truce, pleads the old story of the impatience and temper of 
the Indians, and repeats the demand of a surrender. Gan- 
sevoort immediately sat down and answered with a laconic 
terseness, "that having been entrusted by the United 
American States, with the command of the fort, it was his 
determined resolution to defend it, to the last extremity, 
against a// their enemies."* 

This importunity of St. Leger rather betrayed the weak- 
ness of his position, than afforded evidence of his strength ; 
and the garrison appeared to have taken this view of it. It 
must be evident to all who are acquainted with the Indian 
character, their impatience of the restraints of camp life, 
and the mal-adaptation of their habits for long continued ex- 
ertion, that they began to weary of the siege. They had lost 
many men. They had been disappointed of plunder at Oriska- 
ny, for it is to be remembered that Herkimer had returned, 
with all his baggage and camp stores. Still, as these facts 
were at the time unknown to the American commander, and 
he had no knowledge or infomation of any other reinforce- 
ments, his position was far from being easy. His supplies of 
provisions were fast diminishing. His ordnance stores had 
never been ample. The prospect of relief, after Herkimer's 
fall, seemed gloomy. The enemy pressed the siege, and 
were incessant in their attempts to stir up and embody the 
loyalists of the Mohawk Valley, to whom messenger after 
messenger, and proclamation on proclamation was sent. 

To relieve the growing apprehensions felt from these 
causes. Col. Willett offered to make the attempt to pass 
through the enemies lines at night. He selected as his com- 
panion for this perilous duty. Major Stockwell, and they 
together left the fort, four days after the battle of Oriskany, 
at ten o'clock at night, armed only with spears, and with- 
out any baggage to impede them. They did not even carry 
a blanket, and took only a small supply of crackers and 
cheese. Leaving the sally-port unperceived, they crept on 
their hands and knees along the edge of a morass, to the 

* Gansevoort papers, Albany. 



34 THE SIEGE OP 

river, and by crawling over a log, at a known spot, they 
succeeded in getting off, and eluding the Indians. But 
owing to the darkness of the night, they soon got entangled 
in a bog, and while in this position they heard the barking 
of an Indian dog, and were thus made sensible that they 
were in the vicinity of the enemy. There was nctthing to 
be done but stand perfectly still, and wait for daylight. 
They then proceeded northerly a few miles, and then south- 
erly, tracing a zig-zag course, and sometimes adopting the 
Indian method of concealing their tracks, by walking in the 
water, or stepping on stones. In this manner they passed 
the whole of the first day, without a halt, and at night they 
laid down, without striking a fire, for fear of discovery. The 
following day their provisions failed, but they fortunately 
came to an opening, caused by a windfall, where there 
were an abundance of raspberries and black-berries, which 
refreshed them, and at three o'clock the same day, they 
reached- fort Dayton, at the present site of Herkimer.* 

From this moment, the prospect of the relief of the fort 
brightens, although some of the means which led to its 
relief were curious. Willett here learned that as soon as 
the intelligence of Herkimer's defeat reached Gen. Schuyler, 
at Saratoga, this vigilant officer had ordered Generals 
Arnold and Larned to march, with the Massachusett's 
brigade, to Gansevoort's relief. He immediately took 
horses and proceeded to Albany, where he joined Arnold, 
and within four days, was on his way back with this officer, 
for Fort Dayton. 

In the meantime, an event of seemingly small importance 
transpired, which is believed to have had a controlling influ- 
ence on the enemy in raising the siege. Col. Weston, who 
commanded Fort Dayton, received intelligence of the 
assemblage of a party of tories and disaffected persons, one 
night at the house of one Shoemaker, two miles above the 
fort. He immediately sent out a detachment of troops, 
who came upon them unawares, and took every soul prison- 

* Willett's Narrative. 



FORT STANWIX. XiO 

ers. Among them was one Hon Yost Schuyler, a singular 
being, who lived with his mother and a brother, at the Little 
Falls, where he was well known to the Indians. He spoke 
the Mohawk fluently, and although regarded as a simpleton 
by the whites, the Indians had a peculiar respect for him, 
from the superstitious feeling with which they regard all 
lunatics and persons supposed to have a gift. Hon Yost, 
with others of the captured j^arty, was condemned to be 
shot. On hearing of his doom, his mother and brother came 
up from the Little Falls, and made the strongest appeal for 
his pardon, but all in vain. Arnold remained inflexible. 
The mother's importunities, however, knew no bounds, and 
she wearied the commander with her often grotesque ap- 
peals. Arnold at length told her he would pardon her son 
on one condition, for the faithful performance of which, 
her other son should be detained as a hostage. It was this : 
that Hon Yost should fly to the camp of St. Leger, and 
alarm him by the report of large reinforcements coming in 
hot haste from the camp at Saratoga. She offered to be 
the hostage herself, but the commander would not listen to 
this, but took the brother. 

We will now return to the garrison of Fort Stanwix, 
where Gansevoort remained in ignorance of all that had 
transpired for his relief. He had heard nothing of Willett, 
from the time he had passed out of the sally-port, and 
knew not whether he had escaped, or fallen into the hands 
of the Indians. Twelve days had passed away since his 
departure, and they were twelve days of incessant watch- 
ing, toil and warfare. St. Leger had opened trenches near 
the glacis of the fort, where he had succeeded in drawing 
two parallels, but this work was advanced very slowlj 
and at great hazard, from the severity of Gansevoort's fire- 
arms. One and twenty days had been consumed in the 
siege. Forty-six men, including four officers, had been 
killed or wounded in the defence. Herkimer had been de- 
feated. All looked gloomy and forboding. 

Such was the state of things in the fort on the 22d day 
of August, when the men on the ramparts were surprised 

3 



26 THE SIEGE OP 

to behold some extraordinary movements in the enemy's 
camps. There was a sudden and extensive breaking up of 
the Indian encampments. As far as the eye could see, 
there vvrere trains of Indians on their retreat. Nor was it 
long before the columns of St. Leger, Butler, and Sir John 
Johnson, which had invested the fort with such proud array, 
were in full retreat for the banks of Wood creek. Indeed, 
a perfect panic seemed to have prevailed. St. Leger left 
his tents standing, and abandoned his cannon and mortars 
in their embrasures, with much of his camp equipage. In 
a word, the fort was saved. The arms of the Republic 
had triumphed. It was the first dawning of that brilliant 
triumph, which crowned the autumn of the year at Sara- 
toga. 

What effect the mission of Hon Yost Schuyler had in 
the immediate retreat of the enemy, we are not left to infer 
from conjecture. He executed his engagement with fidel- 
ity, although, as his conduct afterwards proved, he was a 
tory in heart. As soon as he left fort Dayton, he took off 
his coat, and riddled it with bullet holes. On reaching fort 
Stanwix, he went directly to the Mohawk camp. " See," 
said he, pointing to his coat, " how narrowly I have esca- 
ped the rebels. They are coming upon us like a torrent, 
with horsemen and cannon, and will be here by sun-set. 
Fly, or you are lost." When the chief asked him how 
many troops were coming, he pointed to the leaves on the 
trees. The news immediately spread through the camp, 
and he was sent for by St. Leger. Being questioned, he 
confirmed all that the British commander had heard. A 
retreat to Canada was at once resolved on. 

But the Indians waited for no orders. They had already 
been tired of the seige. They had been disappointed in 
every expectation. They were told, on leaving Niagara 
and Oswego, that they should have an easy victory. That 
they were not needed to fight, but only to look on, and see 
the conflict, and triumph.* They had been flattered with 

*Mary Jemison. 



FORT STANWIX. 27 

hopes -bf plunder, but had received nothing. They were 
promised the re-possession of the Mohawk valley, but were 
now driven from its very threshold. Their pride and ava- 
rice had been stimulated in every possible manner, and dis- 
appointed in all. The words of Hon Yost were to them 
oracular. He was a known friend and loyalist. He was 
himself a half Mohawk.* No one doubted them, and no 
one hesitated as to his course. All the eloquence of Brant 
was in vain, and the golden schemes of Indian glory held 
up to their imaginations by Butler and Sir John, vanished 
in a moment. Fear took the ascendency in their breasts, 
and it was a species of fear without limits. 

All our Indian tribes are governed by impulses. They 
are the most capricious beings of the human family — excited 
by a rumor — governed by a dream — led by a superstition — 
constantly changing — always in doubt — never fixed. One 
moment led by demoniacal fury — the next appearing as a 
noble messenger of mercy. A friend or a foe, as associa- 
tions govern them ; but never under the power of inductive 
reason, and ever subject to be unduly led and persuaded by 
those whom they, for the moment, confide in. Such are 
our red men, the continent over. And the disappointed 
Mohawks, with their brilliant leader, Thyendanegea, and 
his western associates but vindicated their unity of general 
character, when they resolved, at a rush, to quit the pre- 
cincts of the beleagured fort. Not only did they fly, and fly 
at once, but they left St. Leger no option in following 
them. He was, in fact, compelled to desert his camp, and 
his hasty retreat was more like that of the Syrians from 
the gates of Samaria, than any thing in American history. 
If it did not bring bread to the hungry and starving, it gave 
arms and shelter and clothing to his enemies. It was, in 
fact, a Flight. 

Nor was this the worst effect, so far as policy and hu- 
manity are concerned in human warfare. The government 
that employs an Indian force, employs a power which it is 

* J. Brodhead, Esq., Utica. 



28 : THE SIEGE OF 

impossible, at all times, to command. A savage, out for 
blood and spoils, if foiled in one way, will revenge himself 
in another. The retreating Iroquois fell upon the boats 
and stores of their flying confederates, on Wood Creek and 
the Onondaga, plundered them of their provisions, and in 
some cases actually tomahawked their defenders.* This 
is stated on British authority. The only part of the force 
which escaped their fury, or commanded their respect, was 
the royal troops, commanded by St. Leger himself 

It was not only a flight, but an escape. Gansevoort took 
every military advantage of honorable warfare of the re- 
treating foe, but he could not venture his reduced and ex- 
hausted garrison in a pursuit. He did more and better. 
He ministered comfort to the wounded enemy, and sufl'ered 
no act of inhumanity to stain his fair laurels. f Every 
wounded man and prisoner fell into the hands of a Samar- 
itan. 

The next day, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the ad- 
vance of the Massachusetts troops from Saratoga, in their 
fine state of discipline, with four brass field pieces, and 
banners displayed, marched into the fort.J It was a fife 
consummation for one of the most heroic struggles of the 
revolution. The news of it spreading on the wings of vic- 
tory, served to cheer the drooping spirits of the friends of 
liberty, far and near, and to inspire fresh energy in the 
cause. The defence itself was a blow struck for indepen- 
dence, w^hich saved a wide and patriotic frontier from the 
tomahawk and scalping knife. It rolled back to the north, 
the heavy and threatening cloud, which cast its fearful 
shadows over the west. It seemed to herald in a new pha- 
sis in the cause. It was the first of a series of victories, 
each more important than the last, till the red cross of St, 
George was struck forever on the land, and the stars and 
stripes waved in its stead. Within two months Burgoyne 
laid down his arms at Saratoga, Vaughan and Clinton re- 



* Stone's Brant. t The late Dr. Woodruff of Albany — Physician under 

Gansevoort. t L. S, 



FORT STANVVIX. 29 

treated down the Hudson. The territory of New York 
was redeemed. Joy was infused in every patriot heart. 
Greetings were exchanged between the prime leaders of 
the revolution. It sent a glow of joy into the heart of 
Washington. And it was the influence of these victories 
upon the courts of Europe, beginning at the lone fortress of 
Stanwix, that paved the way for a treaty of alliance with 
France, and for the final recognition of our independence. 
A single word more remains. Gentlemen, while we pre- 
serve the historical remembrance of these events, and cher- 
ish the names of the noble and gallant men of '76, who 
perilled their lives for the cause of freedom ; while we 
bear in mind the price of this freedom itself, let us not for- 
get the memory of an ardent youth, who, at 14 years of 
age, rushed into one of the earliest battles of the revolution, 
and shared in the contest for our independence. A man 
who was spared by Providence to live through a long life 
of usefulness and high honor, and has just descended to the 
tomb, as we learn within the week, at the patriarchal age 
of 79. I allude to Andrew Jacksox. 



THE END. 



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